Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1866

Mr. Laverdet was one of the priests of the French Church and assistant to Father Châtel. He was a man of great knowledge, and for his elevation of character, enjoyed the appreciation of those that knew him. He died in Paris last November. One of his closest friends, Mr. Monvoisin, the renowned painter of history, a keen Spiritist, willing to receive a few words from beyond the grave, asked us to evoke him. The communication that he gave has, to his friend and his brother, an incontestable seal of identity, and for that matter we conceded to the wishes of those two gentlemen to see it published, and with even more satisfaction for the fact that it is instructive in more than one aspect.



Parisian Society, January 5^th, 1866 – medium: Mr. Desliens

Evocation: Your friend, Mr. Monvoisin, informed us today about your death, and although we did not have the privilege of knowing you in person, we did know your reputation, regarding your contribution in the formation of the French Church. The consideration that you deservedly enjoyed, and the study that you carried out about Spiritism, before your death, added to the wishes of your friend and your brother, accounted for our own desire to communicate with you, God willing. If you wish to give us your impressions as a Spirit, it will make us happy, if you wish to talk about the religious reformation in the cause that you worked and those that hindered its progress, or about the Spiritist Doctrine.

Answer: Dear Sir, I am happy, very happy for the good memory of my dear friend, Mr. Monvoisin. Thanks to him, today I can, in this honorable assembly, express my admiration by the man whose remarkable studies brought happiness to all disinherited and broken hearts by the injustice of men. A reformer myself, I am in the position of appreciating the whole prudence and wisdom of your conduct, dear Sir and teacher, if you allow me to give you such a title.

Not much satisfied with the general tendencies of the orthodox clergy, with their parsimonious way of spreading the light owed to all, I wanted, in partnership with Father Châtel, establish a teaching on new basis, with a character of religion, more associated to the news of the poor classes. In the beginning our objective was commendable, but our endeavor failed in its foundation, its purpose, so that they should come to us more to contradict the established religion than out of intimate conviction. We soon recognized it, but too lightheartedly we accepted with enthusiasm the children that rejected other priests, by lack of sufficient instruction or the necessary formalities. Spiritism proceeds in a totally different way; it is firm and judicious; it does not seek quantity but quality in the followers. It is a serious teaching and not a speculation.


Our reformation, that since the beginning was totally selfless, was soon seen as a means of making fortune, particularly by Father Châtel. It was its ruin. We did not have enough elements of resistance nor we had sufficient planning, fortunately and undoubtedly, to be successful with the endeavor. The first French archbishop had not successor. I did not try to present myself as the chief of a sect that I was the co-founder of second order because, in the first place, I did not approve the tendencies of Father Châtel, tendencies that the poor man atoned and still does in the world of the Spirits. On the other hand, my simplicity rejected it; I abstained and that is why I feel happy today.

We I was approached to return to the interrupted task, the readings of your works, dear Sir, had already launched profound roots in my mind. I understood that it was not only about modifying the way we teach but the teaching itself. Given its nature, our reformation could only have a period; founded on the basis of a fixed idea, upon a human conception, entirely developed and limited in its origin, it should, even with all changes of success, be soon overpassed by progressive seeds whose germination we see today.

Spiritism does not carry such a defect. It marches with progress; it is progress itself and it could not be overtaken by the one that permanently precedes it. By accepting all the new ideas, based on reason and logic, developing them, and giving rise to other unknown ideas, its future is guaranteed. Allow me, dear Sir, to thank you for the pleasure that I experimented by studying the wise teachings under your care. Disturbed by the desire to get to know what was hidden by all the mysteries of nature, by reading it my Spirit was touched by the brightest light.

I know that you reject any personal praise, out of modesty; I also know that those teachings are not of your conception, but the gathering of the instructions of your guides; nonetheless, Spiritism does not owe less to your reservation, to your skills in presenting things at their appropriate time, to your wise slowness, to your permanent moderation; after God and the good Spirits, you must enjoy the recognition that is conferred to you. Despite all diatribes, despite all the sickening and illogical attacks, it is today an opinion that made law, that is accepted by many sensible and serious people, and above any suspicion. It is the works of the future; it is overseen by the Almighty, and it will conquer the support of every intelligent and superior mind, as soon as they acknowledge its true objectives that were disfigured by the adversaries.

Unfortunately, ridicule is a powerful weapon in this country of progress! Several enlightened persons refuse to study certain ideas, even in secrecy, when they have been stigmatized by miserable mockery. But there are things that face all obstacles. Spiritism is one of them, and the time of its victory will come soon. It will unite the whole of France, the whole of intelligent Europe, and the fools and mistaken ones will be those that dare attribute to imagination, facts that are acknowledged by exceptional minds.

As for my current personal state, it is satisfactory; I will say nothing about it; I will just draw your attention to and ask for your prayers to my old colleague, Father Châtel. Pray for him. His lost Spirit, then more elevated, will later give you wise instructions. I thank you again for your benevolence towards me, and remain entirely at your service, if I can be useful at all.

Father Laverdet

Charles-Emmanuel Jean was a good worker, of a kind character, but given to drinking since his youth days. He had fallen in love with a young woman of his acquaintance that did not accept his proposal. She had always rejected him, saying that she would never marry a drunk. He married someone else with whom he had several children, but due to his drinking he never worried about their education and future. He died around 1823 and nobody knew what had become of him. One of his sons followed the footsteps of the father; he moved to Africa and gave no more news. Another one was of a completely different nature; his conduct had always been regular. He started apprenticeship early on, becoming well-liked by his employers as a qualified, laborious, active, and intelligent worker. Through his work and savings, he achieved an honorable position in the industry, and took proper care and educated a large family. He is today a keen and devoted Spiritist.

One day, in a private conversation, he expressed frustration of not having ensured an independent fortune to his children; we tried to appease his conscience, congratulating him, on the contrary, for the way he had accomplished his duty as a father. Since he is a good medium, we prayed for him to get a communication, without appealing to any determined Spirit. He wrote:

-“It is me, Charles-Emmanuel.”

It is my father, he said. Poor father, he is not happy. The Spirit continued:

-Yes, the teacher is right. You did more for your children than I did for you. I, therefore, have a mission to accomplish. Praise God, that gave you the love for your family.

Question (from Mr. Allan Kardec) – Where did your inclination for drinking come from?

Answer – A habit from my father that I inherited. It was a trial that I had to have fought.

Observation: In fact, his father had the same vice, but it is not correct to say that he had inherited; he simply gave in to the influence of a bad example. One cannot inherit defects of character, as it can do to defects of formation. Free-will has total power upon the former and none upon the latter.

Question – What is your current situation in the world of the Spirits?

Answer – I am permanently looking for my children and for the one that made me suffer, that always rejected me.

Q – You must find consolation in your son, Jean, an honored and well-liked man, and that prays for you, although you gave little attention to him.

A – Yes, I know; he has done and still does. That is why I am allowed to talk to you. I am always by his side, trying to mitigate his pains; it is my mission; it will only end when my son comes close to us.

Q – What was your situation, as a Spirit, after death?

A – In the beginning I did not believe to be dead; I drank nonstop; I saw and tried to reach Antoinette, but she fled. I then sought my children that I loved, despite everything, and that my wife did not want to give me. I then revolted, acknowledging my insignificance and impotence, and God condemned me to watch over my son Jean, that never died of an accident because always, and everywhere, I spare him of a violent death.

Observation: In fact, Mr. Jean escaped several times form imminent danger, as if out of a miracle; he escaped from drowning, from fire, from being smashed in the gears of an engine, from exploding with a steam engine; in his youth he was hung by accident, and an unexpected help always saved him at a critical time, something that seems to be due to the vigilance carried out by his father.

Q – You said that God condemned you to watch out for the safety of your son. I do not see a punishment in this; since you love him, this must be, on the contrary, a satisfaction to you. Many Spirits are assigned with the mission of taking care of the incarnate, protecting them, and that is a mission that pleases them to accomplish.

A – Yes, teacher. I should not have neglected my children, as I did. The law of justice now condemns me to repair. I do not do it against my will; I am happy to do that for the love of my son, but the pain that he would feel in the accidents that I save him from, I feel them myself; if he had to go through ten bullets, I would feel that pain as if it happened. That is the punishment that I attracted, by not carrying out the duties of a father before them in my life.

Q (by Mr. Jean) – Do you see my brother Numa, and can you tell me where he is? (the one that was given to drinking and whose fate was unknown).

A – No, I do not see him, but I look for him. Your daughter Jeanne saw him by the coast of Africa, falling into the sea. I was not there to help him. I couldn’t.

Observation: Mr. Jean’s daughter, in a moment of ecstasy, had really seen him falling into the sea, at the time of his disappearance. The punishment of this Spirit offers this particularity: He feels the pains that must be spared from his son. From that, it is understandable that it must be painful; but since he does not complain and consider it to be a fair amends, and that it does not diminishes his affection towards his son, such an atonement is useful.

Do you know, friends, where my communication is from? From a lost gorge, where the houses dispute their foundations with the difficulties accumulated by creation. Climbing houses winding on the slope of almost vertical hills, hanging from the sides of the rocks. Poor dwellings that housed many generations; above the roofs are the gardens where birds sing their prayers. When the first flowers announce the beautiful days, full of air and sun, this music seems to come out of areal layers, and the inhabitant that folds and work the iron, the factory and its discordant noise match their bitter and noisy rhythm with the harmony of the little artists of the good God.

But above those deteriorated, disheveled, original, dislocated houses, there are high mountains with unparalleled greenery; the walker sees the horizon broadening at each step; the villages, the churches seem to came out of the abyss, and this strange, wild, mutable panorama is lost in the distance, dominated by mountains with their summits whitened by the snow.

But I forgot: you must undoubtedly perceive a silvery strip, clear, capricious, transparent like a mirror: it is the Corrèze. Sometimes enclosed between rocks, it is quiet and grave; sometimes she escapes joyful, cheerful, through the meadows, willows and poplars, offering her cup to the lips of numerous flocks, and her beneficial transparency to the frolics of bathers; she purifies the city that is graciously divided.

I love this countryside, with its old houses, its gigantic steeple, it noise, its crown of chestnut trees; I love it because I was born there, because everything that I describe to your benevolent soul is part of the memories of my last incarnation. Beloved relatives, sincere friends always surrounded me with tender care; they helped my spiritual advancement. Having reached grandeur, I owed them my fraternal feelings; my works honored them, and when I come, as a Spirit, to visit the town of my infancy, I cannot help it but to climb the Puy-Saint-Clair, the last home of the citizens of Tulle, greeting the earthly remains of the beloved Spirits.

Strange fantasy! The cemetery is five hundred feet above the city; around, the infinite horizon. We are along among nature, its prestige, and God, the King of all greatness, of all hopes. Our ancestors wanted to bring together their beloved dead to their true dwelling, to tell them: Spirits, fly away! The air around calls you. Come out, resplendent from your prison, so that the enchanting spectacle of this immense horizon prepare you for the wonders that you were called upon to contemplate. If they had such a thought, I approve, because death is not so gloomy as they portray it. To the Spiritists, isn’t that the true life, the desired separation, the welcome of the exiled in the groups of the erratic, where one comes to study, learn, and prepare to the trials?

In a few years, instead of groaning, of mourning, this separation will be a celebration to the incarnate Spirits, when the dead have fulfilled their Spiritists duties, in the true meaning of the word; but they will cry, they will moan for the earthling egotist that had never practiced charity, fraternity, all virtues, all duties so well defined in The Spirits’ Book.

After having spoken about the dead, will you allow me to speak about the living? I am very attached to all hopes, to my country, where there is so much to do, much deserving sincere wishes. Progress, this inflexible leveler, is slow to take root in mountainous regions, it is true, but it knows how to instill itself, in time, with habits and social mores; it dismisses the opposition, one by one, finally allowing glimpses of new light to the pariah of the work, whose body, still leaning over the ungrateful land, is as rough as the tracing of the furrows.

The vigorous nature of those brave inhabitants awaits spiritual redemption. They do not know what it is to think, to judge soundly and to utilize all the resources of the mind; interest alone dominates them in all its harshness; common, heavy nourishment lends itself to that sterility of the spirit; away from the noise of politics, scientific discoveries, they are like oxen, oblivious to their strength, ready to accept the burden, and under the goad, they go to mass, to the cabaret, to the village, not out of interest but habit, sleeping at the sermons, jumping to the discordant sound of a musette^[1], uttering insane shouts, brutally obeying the movements of the flesh.

The priest is careful not to change these old ways and social mores; he talks about faith, the mysteries, passion, always the devil, and that incoherent mix finds an echo, without harmony, in the head of that brave people that vows, make bare feet pilgrimage and indulges in the strangest superstitious social mores.

Thus, when a child is sick, not very open, without intelligence, they hasten to take her to a village called St. Paul; she is first immersed in a privileged, but payed for, water; she is then made to sit on a blessed anvil, and a blacksmith, armed with a heavy hammer, strikes vigorously the anvil; it is said that the commotion, resulting from the repeated blows, infallibly cure the patient. This is called being forged, in St. Paul. Women with a spleen problem will also bathe in the miraculous water and be forged. Judge by this example in a hundred what the teaching of the priests of this region is.

However, take this brute and speak about interest; the cunning peasant, prudent like a savage, defends himself with aplomb and defeats the smartest judges. Shine a little light onto his brain, teach him the first elements of sciences, and you shall have true, healthy, and virile minds, full of good will.

Let the railroads cross this country and immediately you will have a bountiful soil with wine, delicious fruits, selected grain, fragrant truffles, exquisite chestnut, unparalleled vine or mushroom, magnificent woods, inexhaustible coal mines, iron, copper, first-rate cattle, air, greenery, splendid landscapes.



And when so many hopes only ask to flourish, when so many other countries are, like this one, in mortal prostration, let us wish that The Spirits Book penetrates all hearts, and all lost corners of this world. The doctrine that it contains is the only one that can change the minds of the populations, by yanking them away from the absurd pressure of those who ignore the great laws of erraticity, and who want to immobilize human belief in a maze where they themselves have so much difficulty in recognizing one other. So, let us all work with ardor for this desired renovation that must break down all barriers, and create the promised end to the generation that will soon come.

Baluze

Observation: The name Baluze is known to our readers through the excellent communications that he often dictates to his fellow citizen and favorite medium, Mr. Leymarie. It was during a trip by the latter to his homeland that he gave him the above communication. Baluze, a renowned historian, born in Tulle in 1630, deceased in Paris in 1718, published many admired works; he was Colbert's librarian. His biography (Feller's Dictionary) says "men of letters regretted the loss of a profound scholar, and his friends a gentle and generous man." There is a quay in Tulle that bears his name. Mr. Leymarie, who was unaware of the history of St. Paul, inquired about it, and acquired the certainty that these superstitious practices are still in use.

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[1] Kind of oboe common in France of the nineteenth century (T.N.)